Good evening and welcome to the City Council meeting for January 23rd. Madam Clerk, will
you please call roll?
Council Member Parent, Council Member Shoe,
Council Member Dillard,
Vice Mayor Lothian, Mayor Epstapis. Present. We start every meeting with an invocation
and flag salute. Tonight's invocation will be given by Council Member Shoe, Mr. Shoe.
Thank you, Mayor.
I'm not a religious person, but today I'm going to like to read a few
two lines from a sermon given by Revan Monther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas
Church in Bethlehem. It was given this last Christmas and it was entitled Christ on the
Rubble. The church is in Bethlehem and it created an avid scene with the figure of
body of Jesus in a calfia like the one I'm wearing, and it was surrounded by rubble.
We
were tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so-called free line, free lined
up one after one,
one after another, to give the green light for this genocide against
a captive population. They gave the cover,
not only did they make sure, not only that,
but they made sure that the bill was paid in advance.
They veiled the truth and
the context
providing political cover. Later in the sermon he says, if you are not appalled by what
is happening in Gaza. If you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with
you as a human, with your humanity. And if we, as Christians, are not outraged by the
Jennifer side, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong
with our Christian witness and we are
composing the credibility of our gospel message.
May peace be with you and please join me in the flexible.
A report from closed session.
There is no reportable action tonight.
Thank you. City manager comments.
Thank you, Mayor. I've just got a brief report on the rains from yesterday.
Obviously, there was a significant amount of rain around the region yesterday.
La Mesa recorded three inches of rain in 24 hours.
I don't recall we ever having that much rain in that short of a time period before.
But miraculously, there was some flooding, but it was primarily along our roadways.
We had a period where there was half an inch of rain in 15 minutes, which is unbelievable.
We had our flooding on University Avenue near Boulevard in 69th, Alvarado Road, the typical spots.
But there was the only real damage we've experienced in the city was a little bit of erosion to Alvarado Road,
which Caltrans in the city will clean up over the next week or so, and there's some debris out there.
But I want to thank our public works crews, our fire crews and our police crews, particularly public works,
for getting the infrastructure ready for that event.
I can remember back in my day that there'd be more damage for that type of rain, certainly.
and a lot of our stormwater projects,
the University Avenue Storm Brain Project,
really has helped slow down the flooding,
so I just wanted to report that out.
Thank you.
Community Bulletin reports all about e-bikes.
Join a free interactive virtual class
with the San Diego County Bike Coalition
on Thursday, February 1st from 6 to 7.
You can register at SanDiegoBikeCoalition.org.
It'll be cover road rules, how they work,
the e-bikes, where to ride, maintenance, and how to operate. So if you're thinking of becoming an
owner of an e-bike, this would be a good place to start. February 1st from 6 to 7 online, San Diego
Bike Coalition. Next, this Thursday, and I think it could be closed, they still may need volunteers
this Thursday at 4 a.m., will be the We All Count, and you can register to do the point and
time count, and if you'd like, it goes from 4 to 8 a.m. You have to be there, I think,
at 3.55. And it's going to start, I believe, at Lemon and Aum at the church. I'm planning
to be there, so I hope everybody can wake up with us. And last is Dr. Akila Weber,
Assemblyperson Dr. Kieloweber has a committee on social deterrence of health, environmental
health and urban communities, and there's going to be an informational hearing on February
2nd, Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., sorry, for two hours, and it's going to be in alcohol
in the council chamber, so if you can go there, that's what's going to be happening
there.
Vice Mayor Lothian.
you missed call your park the ribbon cutting it's in February they didn't give
that to me so well then I'll announce it on February 10th 10 o'clock the morning
ribbon cutting call your park the pickleball crowds of LeMace are very
excited and I'm looking forward to it myself councilmember Dillard yes I
just want to give a brief report on the safety and security report for MTS for
for ridership with the trolley. This is over a one-week period. We had 621,650 patrons that
participated in the trolley system during that week. And of those writing, MTS security
personnel contacted 37,367 riders for fares or about 6% of the total ridership. There
There were 152 total citations issued, 128 were fair related.
And out of that, the Orange Line, which is the line that goes through LaMesa, had 112,816
patrons that week.
And, you know, the total amount of inspections for, you know, the entire 621,650 were 18,467
of which citations were given 152 for fair and other citations.
So, just an overall synopsis of our activity with the trolley system.
And we have a new system that's been established for launching better contact with customers.
And it's called Ride Assured.
And that campaign that provides riders with a call-in number and text line for report
incidents.
so Ride Assured is advertised in all MTS vehicles
and the calls for service is 559
and Ride Assured messages, if you want a text, is 4-4.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Hsu.
I heard that the orange line was also closed for today.
I thought it was flooding.
I don't know if it's reopened yet,
but that's part of MTS.
Yes, in any case, I don't have any report.
Thank you.
Council Member Perrant.
Yeah, I just wanted to express my appreciation
for Council Member Dillard sharing some great stats
about the really substantial use and reliance
of public transit by people in La Mesa.
I appreciate you sharing that.
And also the efforts by the agency
to work on things like fair evasion and other things
so that people can feel safe on the trolley system,
which is really important.
I'm glad to hear that's continuing to happen
and that you're sharing that with the public
and your colleagues up here.
And then just to the point about
Council Member Schuess' reference to the orange line,
it is services substantially suspended,
but if people are relying on that
and are curious about how to get around
and it's while it's being repaired,
MTS has information about bridge bus options
on their social media and website that folks can tune into and look at.
And I just also shared the kudos to MTS and their staff
for the really substantial work they're doing to try to get that up and running again.
So I saw that on social media too, and so hopefully we'll get that full service moving soon.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Additions and relations by staff and council or council?
None from staff.
Thank you.
The first presentation is, I'd like to invite Justin Pichet and George Zapata to join me
up at the podium and also Mr. Throne, would you join us as well?
On December 11, 2023, the City of La Mesa Public Works employees, Justin Pichet and
George Zapata were traveling on Jefferson Avenue when they noticed a fire in front of
a home.
Mr. Pichet and Mr. Zapata immediately exited the city vehicle and jumped into action.
They disconnected a series of holiday lights that had caught fire and extinguished the
fire using a garden hose, preventing the fire from spreading and consequently saving the
home.
By the time fire crews arrived, the fire had been completely extinguished.
Following the incident, city staff was advised that the fire may have begun when a tortoise
enclosure heat lamp caught fire, spreading to the holiday lights.
Luckily, Mr. Pichet and Mr. Zapata, their quick thinking, the fire was contained
and the tortoise survived.
On behalf of the city of La Mesa I'd like to recognize
Mr. Pichet and Mr. Zapata for their rapid response and acting without
hesitation to what might have been a terrible situation that they kept their
eyes open and not only serving La Mesa as public works but now our
volunteer firefighters. Is that true Chief Co? So there you go.
So but
that we care beyond just our jobs,
that whether or not we live in the city,
the city belongs to us,
and we care about every part of it.
And so I'd like to say thank you to both gentlemen,
and I'm gonna let each one of them say a little something.
Mr. Pesche.
I know it's gonna be a period doing this.
I'm just grateful to have this opportunity
to work for the City of La Mesa,
to grow with my fellow crew members, George,
and my supervisor Robert Williams it's just an amazing experience just to
learn different things about the city and just doing a job taking care of it.
You said everything right. I'm very proud to work for the Cedar La Mesa, very proud
to serve the community like I said on the interview. I'm here to serve the
community, and I'm doing it, and this is one of the proofs, and I'm very proud.
Thank you very much.
We're going to get a photo.
Thank you. You do not need to stay for the meeting, so we're going to let you be excused,
so you can go celebrate. So please, thank you again for being here. Thank you, family members
and friends for being here.
There should be some type of reward. So being able to leave
a council meeting is the least we can do.
Sorry, the rest of you that work here, you
have to stay.
Okay. Next on the agenda is a climate action plan and organics recycling
a progress report presentation.
Oh, welcome.
Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.
I'm environmental manager, Hilary Ego,
and I'm here with my team,
our two Civic Spark Fellows,
Carlin and Liam,
and our environmental analyst, Serena.
Together, we work on implementing
the Climate Action Plan, or CAP for short,
and we're excited to present to you
highlights from the past six months.
In February, 2021,
the La Mesa City Council adopted
a climate emergency resolution
and resolution response in January 2022.
This reaffirmed the city's commitment to climate action
and supports existing CAP implementation efforts.
The February 2021 climate emergency resolution
includes 11 actions.
Over the last six months,
this is how staff address these 11 actions.
CAP engagement with city departments
by collaborating with the
Interdepartmental CAP implementation team
and with city boards and commissions addresses action too.
Participate in regional priority climate action plan
San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Working Groups and County Office of Environmental
Justice and Sustainability addresses actions 3, 4, 5, 8, and 11.
Presentations and partnerships with city boards and commissions, including the parking commission
working on electric vehicle charging stations and sustainability features of the Lemon
Avenue parking lot that began construction this month, the Mobility Commission reviewing
complete streets projects, and the Youth Advisory Commission including CAP-related
items in their time capsule addresses action too.
began the Moture Study to gather data on how people drive, bike, walk, and ride
public transportation around La Mesa to reduce vehicle miles traveled, Addresses
Action 6, youth engagement and school partnerships and with workshops, class
field trips, and organics recycling rollout, Addresses Actions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 9, host University of San Diego College Corps Fellows working on cap
projects in all categories, Addresses Action 9, working with the consultant,
city staff, and Environmental Sustainability Commission and ad hoc
subcommittees to address CAP targets, measures and actions in CAP update process addresses
actions 1, 2, 5 and 7, and an increased focus on climate and equity and participation with
community organizations in the CAP update process addresses actions 1, 3, 4, 5 and
9.
The January 2022 response to the climate emergency resolution includes four actions
in which all are being addressed through commission partnerships, interdepartmental
collaboration, Climate Action Plan update and mode share study and ongoing six
month progress reports to City Council. The mode share study is 80% complete
and will be included in the cap update. The consultant has finished the data
collection and is completing their analysis. The study will include
greenhouse gas emissions for transportation mode split for driving,
walking, biking, and taking public transportation. The Climate Action Plan
is a roadmap of actions the city can take to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in the areas of energy, transportation and land use, solid waste, green infrastructure,
and water.
The 2018 CAP committed to being updated and we are currently going through the process
with the consultant.
Progress in the CAP update continues as city staff have been working to update greenhouse
gas emission projections and targets that are consistent with the state and update
measures and key actions.
As shown in the timeline below, community engagement workshops and surveys have
been conducted with the first workshop in May, second workshop hosted in partnership
with Helix Charter High School in October
and held the Boarding Commission Working Group meeting.
And we've received over 200 responses
in the CAP Update Survey.
To ensure we meet the expanded project scope
and deliverables with the Mocha study,
which required additional time by the consultant
to comply with the requested changes,
the first draft plan will be presented
to the community and commissions in mid 2024.
With me are members of the CAP team,
which includes full-time staff, civic spark fellows,
who are 11 month contract positions
for recent college graduates organized by the state's office, Civic Well, and
partially funded by the Federal AmeriCorps program. And we also work with
three part-time University of San Diego student college core fellows that are
fully funded by the state. The CAP team continues to work closely with the
Environmental Sustainability Commission and other commissions and is an active
member of the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative. CAP implementation is
funded by the Public Works Environmental Services budget and the
fiscal year 24 to 25 is $813,257. The cap is also funded by grants and state programs.
Listed here are all the events the Climate Action Plan team has hosted and tabled at in the last
six months, with nearly 2,000 community members participating. As part of the climate emergency
resolution, we continue to engage with residents at events and also with businesses through the
LaMesa Green Business Network, which you'll learn more about in the next presentation.
The COP is an interdisciplinary in nature, and we continue to engage with city staff through events such as an e-bike test ride event and implementing sustainability practices at the employee appreciation luncheon.
The city received the Sand Dog Diamond Award Platinum level and I Love a Clean San Diego Community Collaboration Awards, and staff was recognized as a Climate Science Alliance 2023 Climate Adaptation Leader.
Additionally, the city supported the La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation, who received
a $37,000 grant from San Diego Community Power to electrify community events at the parks
and community garden.
As part of the climate emergency resolution, the CAP team has increased youth outreach
by partnering with Helix Charter High School for the classes, workshops, organics recycling
rollout, and the Youth Advisory Commission.
Energy
highlights include increased DIY energy saving and sustainability toolkit social media marketing and checkouts.
The city kicked off a large scale municipal energy project with an energy services company to identify and implement energy saving and renewable energy projects.
As part of the community grant award from San Diego Community Power, the La Mesa Community Garden and the City Parks Division received electric tools instead of using gas powered tools in La Mesa parks.
Transportation highlights include continuing to implement vision zero
projects such as complete streets, the expansion of bicycle and pedestrian
infrastructure, and providing community education. The city has partnered
with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition to host bicycle education classes including
bike rodeos, city cycling class, and a virtual e-bike class.
The city also began two projects that will lead to transportation
greenhouse gas emissions savings. The mode share study that analyzes
is how people drive, walk, bike, or take public transit,
and the electric vehicle charging station master plan
requests for proposals.
For city fleet electrification,
the city received technical assistance
funded by the California Energy Commission
to identify opportunities and meet state requirements.
Water highlights include hosting
a native landscaping workshop for residents
to learn about the benefits of planting
native plants that use less water.
The city is also updating the landscaping
outside of City Hall to be drought tolerant and serve as an educational demonstration garden.
Green infrastructure highlights include continuing to implement the Urban Forest Management Plan
and a Cal Fire Grant to plant trees and host tree education events.
In the last six months, 56 trees were planted in public right-of-way and parks.
And the La Mesa Parks and Recreation Foundation hosted its annual La Mesa Park Appreciation
Day.
As part of the Cal Fire Grant, our grant partner, Tree San Diego, calculated the greenhouse gas
benefit of carbon stored in the trees planted to date and is 383 metric tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 1 million miles driven
by an average gasoline powered vehicle.
Senate Bill 1383 details requirements for jurisdictions
and businesses regarding organic waste recycling and food recovery programs. City staff along
along with Isle of a Clean San Diego have been working to help La Mesa schools become
compliant with SB 1383. The rollout of an organics program at Helix Trotter High School
started today. The city continues to provide free waste services to residents, including
servicing almost 1,000 participants at the eight household hazardous waste events last
year. In addition, EDCO sponsored two paper shredding events with over 400 vehicles
was processed, 17,000 pounds of paper shredded,
and over 9,000 pounds of electronic waste collected.
Our Litter-Free La Mesa Community Cleanup Series
kicked off in April 2023.
Litter-Free La Mesa is a five-year program
in partnership with Isle of a Clean San Diego
and utilizes volunteers to beautify the community
and keep litter from entering our waterways
that lead to the ocean.
The events had 250 volunteers
who removed over 1,000 pounds of litter.
Here are the dates for this year.
SB 1383 requires every California jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection services to businesses and residents beginning in 2022.
Organic waste includes food waste, landscaping waste, and paper products.
SB 1383 defines certain large commercial food generators to donate edible food that would otherwise be thrown away.
Jurisdictions are required to implement a food recovery program that includes education to identified large food generators.
It also sets annual procurement targets of recovered organic waste products.
Edco and the city worked to roll out organics recycling services to all the Mesa businesses in March 2023.
Residents have been receiving organics curbside service since 2021.
SB 1383 compliance rates in La Mesa are nearly 100% for both business and residential customers.
To encourage maximum participation in the residential organics collection program,
EdCo offers free kitchen catties to residents.
Multifamily residents can request kitchen catties from the property management and
single family residents can request one directly from EdCo.
SB 1383 requires specified large food generators to recover edible food that would otherwise
go to waste. In July 2023, the city contracted with consultant Solana Center for Environmental
Innovation to provide assistance to food recovery organizations and Tier 1 commercial food generators
which includes supermarkets and have some donation programs already in place.
Commencing January 1st 2022, Tier 1 generators must follow donation and record keeping requirements
and commencing January 1st 2024, Tier 2 commercial food generators such as large
restaurants in hospitals shall also comply. City staff and Salana Center have been focusing
on an education-first approach to ensure compliance.
SB 1393 sets high procurement targets of recovered organic waste for each California jurisdiction.
La Mesa has been focusing on procuring mulch and renewable natural gas, or RNG. The RNG
comes from collected organic waste that is processed at EDCO's facility. In 2023,
In 2003, the city also gave 340 cubic yards of mulch
through a self-serve mulch pile at city facilities and events.
Because of increased outreach, this number nearly tripled.
2024 priority projects are listed here
and include the Climate Action Plan update,
projects that reduce energy and transportation emissions
and continue to engage with the community
by hosting cap-themed events and classes.
Thank you, Mayor and City Council
for your support of the Climate Action Plan
and I'm available for questions.
Thanks, Mayor Lothian.
Thank you for the presentation.
So I see by all four of you that you do a ton of workshops and hands-on stuff, and the
question I have for you is the goal of Climate Action Plans is to reduce La Mesa's carbon
emissions, correct?
Right?
Okay, so our carbon footprint.
Is there any device out there that measures?
So all of these things that we're doing, they're not goals, they're processes to
get to a goal.
So the goal is to reduce carbon emissions. Is there anything that you can show or anyone can show here?
It's the city or anything like that. Hey, our carbon emissions were here and now they're here
We receive our greenhouse gas emission inventories from sand egg every two years
And so right now and we're in a mid-year cycle waiting to receive our next inventory
And what is it like cubic something per yard? I mean, what's the measurement? Yes, it's it's co2
so similar to the
example given earlier about the carbon emissions that were sequestered from the
trees. Okay and so is it like some sort of a gadget or something out there that's
testing the air? I just don't, I'm trying to see how we're testing our, we're
spending a million dollars a year so I want to see where that money's going.
What's the results? Sandag funds a consultant to conduct the studies for
the city. Okay so we don't really know. Okay now I'm gonna throw some stats
That's out there, too, for you guys.
So I don't know if people know this or not,
but the United States produces 12.6%
of the world's carbon emissions.
So the United States is 12.6%.
LaMesa makes up 0.018% of the US population,
which means that we produce 0.0012% of the world's
We're not in industrial city. So my feeling is is that we are such a microscopic carbon
emission producer that it seems to me sort of a waste of money to be spending almost a
million a year, especially when you consider that our police and fire are not fully staffed.
Our streets are not smooth and pothole free. Our parks are not beautiful and clean. We
are not littering graffiti free. Our permit process is still not quite expedient and
glitch-free, and we haven't solved our homeless problem. So I just feel like we're throwing
a lot of money towards something that even if we were completely compliant, it would
be negligible on the world stage. Thank you.
Any other questions? Council Member Parent?
Yeah. Thanks, Hilary, and your team for this presentation, for all the work that you
all are doing to implement our climate action plan, as you all know, and as many
the public knows not only do we have, not only has climate change real, but do we have
legal obligations to have a climate action plan and to follow through with the efforts
that we have in that plan.
And so I'm very proud of LaMesa being the first city in East County to adopt an enforceable
climate action plan.
I'm glad we're continuing to do that.
I'm glad that we have a good team of people who are committed to doing that.
But it sometimes is, as you all know, and sometimes is thankless work to do this.
We are a small city.
We are not going to solve climate change all by ourselves, but we also have obligations
as individuals, as public servants, and as community to do our fair share.
and it's great to see that we're that we're doing that with all these diverse
efforts so I'm glad that we're doing that and I want to thank you for your
efforts and your presentation here this evening.
Council Member Dillard.
Yes I just want to say thank you for the
presentation and thank you to all of you. I did want to highlight the part
of the presentation where you get the youth with schools involved, I want to commend you
for that because they're our future and they want to be able to breathe too and we want
our children and our children's children to be able to breathe.
And I see this whole project that we have been working on as an example.
We're an example for other cities to get on board and do their part, and together, if we work together, we can really make an impact.
And yeah, we're a small city, and the work may be thankless, but it's needed, and I really want to commend you on the hard work that you do,
do because I see you a lot working very hard to, you know, do the things necessary.
And I commend the rest of you as well for your hard work and dedication and, you know, your
potential careers if you haven't already formed them, you know, I'm happy for that too.
So and for the youth that you included in this as well.
So thank you.
Thank you, Mayor.
Well, this is a great report.
I think we'll make sure we can be very proud of what we're doing in terms of our climate
action plan of all of our actions and worthy of the awards we've received, maybe more awards
in the future from our region.
I have a few technical questions.
We'll quickly just, this is not a test, but with regards to one million miles traveled
amount of emissions equivalent to the 250 some trees that we planted is that a
point in time or is that one year of emissions or greenhouse gas emissions
sequestered. I will look at the report I was provided and get back to you. Yeah
if you give me some details on that that'd be interesting because sometimes
we would count the trees how much they could sequester through the life of the
tree or whether it was a 40 year old tree versus the smaller trees that we
currently planned. Nevertheless, we're going to sequester some carbon and that's
a good thing, but actually I like the co-benefits which is the shade, the
beauty of the then it has the city-city. Many of the things that you've done in
your unit is not directly tied to reduction of what it could be somewhat
tied to some reduction like our little clean-ups program. That's done by
for your staff and you, you're involved with that,
but that's not part of the climate action plan, is it?
It's part of it because it's education
for waste reduction and proper sorting.
And that can reduce, habitually reduce some,
so yes, it is part of the education program.
But the co-benefits of that are great.
I mean, I've seen customer loading out there,
helping on those cleanup days, yeah, right.
So that's part of what your staff does as part of the budget in your unit.
There's some other co-benefits as well, economic co-benefits with regards to energy efficiency and things like that.
And I hope at some point we may not be able to document all of it,
but I think it's good to mention that there are co-benefits of fulfilling much of the Climate Action Plan,
that it actually reduced costs for the city as well as the people of La Mesa.
And another co-benefit that's really big is I think the health issues that we know
emissions from cars and and the plastic and everything else does cause physical
health impacts in our community and that that's another thing that we may
not be able to document fully but you know if we reduce asthma case or
case, that's a lot of money and lots of money that affects our families and we
know it affects poor people and people of color more than others. So I think it's
important for us to point out those co-benefits in our program. There's many
more questions but I won't let you anymore. I think thank you for a much
more thorough report than we've had before. I've been looking forward to
the work plans of our committees. I've been looking at the work plans of
some of our other committees,
like the mobility committee and planning
to also work on some of these projects,
which I know are very challenging.
And the next climate action plan,
I think it's pretty, of course,
I know will be better than the other climate action plans
in our region.
So I'm looking forward to seeing that.
This is a great challenge.
And as customer parent mentioned, we may be small,
But we could be strong leaders for East County and the rest of the region.
And hopefully with our leadership, we will progress throughout the country and throughout the world
with regards to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
So thank you very much.
Since everyone's been standing, would you reintroduce your team really quick?
Yes, of course.
I'm sorry that you've been standing so long, please.
So I have with me our Civic Spark Fellows, Karlyn and Liam.
And they're with us until August.
So it's an 11 month program for them to gain firsthand experience on climate action planning
and local government.
All right.
And then I have Serena who's been with us for almost a year now and she is our environmental
analyst and leads our solid waste programs and supports the climate action plan.
Thank you for your report.
Thank you for all being here.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Next on the agenda is a 2023 certified LaMesa green business recognition presentation.
The
2023 certified La Mesa green business recognition presentation, the city of La Mesa
established the La Mesa green business network in 2022 in collaboration with the San Diego
region green business network.
The network serves as a central hub for sustainable business and businesses that are striving
to do more sustainability in La Mesa offering access to resources including a monthly newsletter,
educational events, networking opportunities, and ongoing rebate and incentive information.
Since 2022, seven businesses have received their green business certification,
and over 20 businesses have joined the network.
Today, the City of La Mesa would like to recognize the La Mesa-certified businesses
for their ongoing efforts to reduce emissions.
These businesses set a positive example for the rest of the community
through their reduction of waste and water, energy conservation, and alternate
community practices, use of environmental friendly cleaning products, and
pollution prevention. With us there are five of the LaMesa businesses who
received their Green Business Certification, so congratulations to
Helix soap company, KAIS Refills, the LaMesa Library, Homes with My
reality and dental house for your ongoing sustainability achievements. I'd like to
invite all of them up here for a group photo. If anyone's here. Yes. Thank you.
that everybody sneak out and change seats.
You're all by yourself now over there, okay.
Next on the agenda is a developmental services process
and improvement plan update.
Oh, hi, welcome, thank you, sorry.
A little ahead of you there.
Yes, Los Santos, thank you.
Thank you, good evening council members.
This evening we are so excited to present to you
an update on the development services,
process improvement plan implementation efforts. On February 20, 2023, staff
brought forward to council process improvement recommendations. The primary
goals of the recommendations were to enhance the customer experience,
identify and address bottlenecks in the permitting process, and to become
more efficient with time and resources. The plan recommendations were
organized into three priority levels and included more than 20 recommendations.
It also included an action plan for implementation and tracking success.
The recommendations focus on providing proactive communication, providing comprehensive information,
front-loading customer information and assistance to avoid delays in the permitting process,
improving predictability for customers
and providing faster time frames.
This evening, we are going to share with you
some accomplishments that have been made
in the areas of process improvements,
customer service, tracking and data collection,
and we'll provide an update on our ADU process
accomplishments and activity.
We will begin with process improvement accomplishments.
The process improvement priority recommendations
recommendations that have been implemented or that are currently underway include implementation
of main star permit portal modules,
network and technology upgrades, ongoing process improvements
through interdepartmental development services team meetings, updates and implementation
of applications, forms, handouts that assist the application in success and
re-instituting a pre-application process for applicants. Laura Trafensted,
Associate Planner and Lead of the Development Services Coordination
Committee, will now provide you an overview of some of these process
improvement accomplishments.
Good evening Mayor and Council. My name is Laura
Trafensted. I'm an Associate Planner in the Community Development Department.
Over the past year, building, engineering, fire, and planning staff have been working
hard to begin implementing the recommendations that were brought to you all last year.
Tonight, I'm excited to share with you some of our progress for process improvement,
and later in the presentation, my colleague, Kristin Flores, will be sharing with you
some of our customer service recommendation accomplishments as well.
A main highlight of our progress thus far is our electronic plan review portal, MainStar.
Our MainStar portal is up and running and has become the hub for all permit transactions.
All building, engineering and fire applications are now accepted in the MainStar portal.
The portal allows applicants to submit plans, pay permit fees, track past and current permit records,
and request inspections.
Applicants can also track plan review status through their account
and get notified when a project moves forward in the workflow.
These notifications are sent to both the property owner and their permit agent.
Applicants can even view an interactive map showing the locations of active projects,
which my colleague, Chris.
We're also very excited about the city's new Instant Residential Rooftop Solar Permitting
process. This new process was made possible by our new Solar Permit Application Platform
Symbium. Applicants may now easily apply for Instant Residential Rooftop Solar Permits. Qualifying
projects will receive their approval documents through Symbium, and permits can be issued
instantly through the main star portal. Pulling a residential solar permit is now
an easy process that takes only 10 to 15 minutes. To allow more efficient and
effective permit application reviews, City Council appropriated funds to
provide network and technology upgrades for staff in the Community
Development Department and Public Works Engineering Division. That included the
purchase of larger monitors for plan review, computers with improved
processing speeds for electronic files and back-end network hardware to provide additional capacity.
At the February 20, 2023 Council meeting, City Council also approved the addition of two new
positions, an engineering technician and an information technology specialist.
These positions were filled through recruitment in 2023. The additional staffing has resulted
and improved turnaround times for engineering projects and a faster software implementation schedule.
Staff is committed to continuous process improvement.
Development services staff, including building, engineering, fire, and planning,
meet every other Monday to discuss specific projects and strengthen communication
and coordination between departments.
Through these Development Services Coordination Committee meetings,
We have been able to complete several of the recommendations that we are presenting to you tonight.
And we are continually working towards completing additional recommendations and identifying process improvements together.
A primary effort of the Development Services Coordination Committee has been to update the community development web page on the city website.
site. This includes updates to applications, forms, and handouts, and the development of
information guides to assist applicants with a variety of permit processes. Staff has evaluated
best practices from other cities across the county, and we are currently working on implementing
a new website format with updated applications, forms, checklists, and information guides
in the upcoming year. These recommendations accomplish all five themes that we brought
up earlier and would improve predictability for customers, provide comprehensive information,
proactive communication, and faster turnaround times by front-loading the information.
Staff has also reinstituted the Pre-Application Development Review Committee meetings with
applicants to establish expectations and ensure projects are feasible prior to submitting.
By inviting customers to meetings to discuss projects early in the process, staff is able
to provide greater predictability and give customers a clear understanding of what the
requirements for their project will be, what a complete application submittal looks like,
how the review process will work, how long the process will take, and their responsibilities
to ensure the process works well.
This includes the responsibilities of their architect, engineer, and or contractor.
Since re-initiating this process last February, several projects have utilized this opportunity.
Staff has received feedback from the developers that these meetings have been extremely beneficial and helpful as they navigate new development projects in La Mesa.
And now, Kristen Flores, Management Analyst for the Community Development Department will
provide an overview of some of our customer service accomplishments.
Thank you, Laura.
Good evening, Mayor and members of Council.
My name is Kristen Flores.
I'm the Management Analyst for the Community Development Department here at the City of
La Mesa.
As Laura stated earlier, staff has worked hard over the past year to implement the
recommendations that were brought forward to council last year and before we move
on with the presentation we want to thank you all for your continuous support
as we implement these improvements and also for helping the department connect
more with the community. So tonight I will go over some important customer
service priority recommendations that have been implemented or that are
currently underway. These recommendations include the completion of the
accessory dwelling unit guidebook, the initiation of a community workshop series, curation of
tutorial videos for applicants to reference, regular updates to the city website, and improved
methods of communication between the city and project applicants.
I will now provide you with an overview of each of these accomplishments.
In February of 2023, the City of La Mesa updated the local ADU ordinance to further
aligned with the state ADU law. In March of 2023, the city published an ADU guidebook
and FAQ to help guide homeowners who are looking to build an ADU. The guidebook answers common
questions about the design, permitting, construction, and property management process for ADUs,
and also discusses the factors that should be considered when making the decision to
construct an ADU. The adoption of the ADU guidebook further demonstrates the
city's commitment to providing increased affordable housing options in the
City of La Mesa and assist in meeting the city's housing element
implementation program.
The Baker-Tilly Best Practice Research found that the
City of La Mesa processes twice the number of ADUs compared to pure cities.
Since 2022, the City of La Mesa has received approximately 230 ADU
applications with 165 ADUs issued to date. An important goal for the department was to
deliver quick and consistent turnaround times for reviews of accessory dwelling units.
In 2023, the average time frame for first review on an ADU was approximately 18 days
and 91% of first reviews were completed within the city's goal of 30 days. Beginning
Beginning in July of 2022, the City Council approved an exception to the cost recovery
policy for the building fee schedule to create a fee waiver program that would waive the
initial $2,000 of incurred city fees for ADU and junior ADU permit applications.
To date, the city has waived almost $255,000 in ADU permit fees.
On October 17, the Community Development Department kickstarted the Community Workshop
series with the hosting of an open house. This was essentially a meet and greet
that included the city manager and the community development director. It was
also an opportunity to inform the community on a variety of community
development efforts and projects that are underway. Here we have a short video
that shows some of the highlights of the open house which was posted on the
city's Instagram account.
For the open house we created flyers to inform
folks of projects we will be commencing or that are already underway such as our
downtown village specific plan and exploring the expansion of outdoor
dining opportunities. We also provided information about our code compliance
program such as information on how one can submit a request and a list of
helpful resources.
Lastly we created a handout to guide people to our new
permit portal main star and had computers on site to walk folks through
main star in real-time. Staff even created QR codes for each topic area so
folks could access information in person in real-time. Overall this was a
successful outreach effort with more than 30 people in attendance and we are
hoping to host more community workshops in the near future.
We are
excited to share that the city has initiated a how-to video series that so
far includes how to navigate the main star portal, how to apply for an
instant residential solar permit and how to create a main star account. Our goal
is to build a video series that will serve as a useful tool for onboarding
new staff members and commissioners.
There are a variety of ways for the
community to stay informed on various development projects in the city. For
example, on the city website the community development webpage includes an
Development Project page that provides a comprehensive list of proposed new
multi-family or new commercial development projects as well as a map that
shows where those projects are located. This page is updated once a month
as the planning division is constantly accepting new applications.
The Main
Star public portal includes a new map feature which is linked to the city's
GIS maps. This resource allows the public to view properties with active applications
and permits in real time. It also shows all recent permits on that property and specific
details for each permit. The green dots indicate lots with issued or finalized permits and
the red dots indicate lots with projects that are still under review. Residents and
and potential applicants may also utilize the Notify Me function on the city website.
Those who subscribe will receive notifications when the city posts meeting information and
releases various news updates.
The department is always aiming to improve the plan review process for the applicant
and by improve we mean get the applicant from submittal to approval as quickly as
possible.
An important change we made was to have the Mainsar system notify all parties
involved, including the owner, applicant, design professional, and contractor. This will ensure
that all stakeholders are informed each time the project progresses through the workflow.
To prevent any possible delays during plan check, reviewers are now contacting applicants after
the second review cycle to review the comments with the applicant to make sure that they have
all the information they need to get an approval on the next round of review.
Another huge accomplishment is the department's improved method of
tracking and data collection. The main star staff portal can now generate a
report that shows the full permit process from start to finish. This report
tracks how long the project is in review with staff as well as how long
it takes the applicant to revise plans and resubmit. We can query by
when one applied the number of review cycles, we can see when plans were
routed, when the review was completed, how long the review took, when comments were sent
to the applicant, and each time the applicant resubmits.
This data provides useful metrics to track average permit processing times and locate
areas of improvement and also assists in more predictability for customers.
As a common question we receive is how long does the permit process take?
This report has helped staff calculate average timeframes at each step of the
plan review workflow. For example accessory dwelling units go through an
average of two review cycles with the first review averaging 18 days and the
second review averaging 14 days. After first review it takes the applicant
an average of 65 days to resubmit. After second review it takes the
applicant an average of 21 days to resubmit.
A new customer survey is now
available in the Mainstar portal. This allows applicants to provide feedback on
the application process, portal interface, and interactions with staff. The
survey is important as it identifies portions of the process that will that
work well and portions that can be more efficient not only for the
applicant but for city staff. Our goal is to use it to use all feedback as
building blocks for improvement. Once an applicant receives an email that their
permit is issued, a direct link to the survey will be embedded into the same
email giving the applicant quick access to the survey.
Thank you Kristen
and Laura. As you can see staff continues to be committed to our
customer service motto creating a shared culture of success. This motto represents the commitment
to a collaboration between city staff, executive management, city commissions, our customers,
the community, and you, the council members. To successfully meet the city's strategic
goals of maintaining a community where residents and visitors feel safe and promoting a high
quality of life that current and future generations can afford to call home.
So we wanted to thank you again for your support.
Staff appreciates how each one of you has graciously assisted
Thank you so much to all three of you for the presentation. I cannot tell you how comprehensive
intensive. This is, and I'm very excited to see it. I hope Laura feels the same. There
were a lot of questions about how we could make this smoother and better, and it just
seemed like you just covered everything. I mean, maybe something's missing, but I'm
not trying to be picky because I'm so excited to hear about all of the items along the
way that you covered and it is very comprehensive and I really appreciate that because we did
have, I think when Laura and I started working together on this, we had some frustrated constituents
that just had issues and I also learned just actually this week, I think it was
Lynn that told me that we have someone that's applied for Laura and I to review, and that
there was a process in place that maybe when they put in the request that someone from planning
would be reaching out to them to see if they could resolve the issue before actually coming
before Laura and myself. So that too is also just a great idea to see if they can actually
solve the issue before having to go through that whole process. So I really love everything
that I saw and I really appreciate all the organization and comprehensive thought that
that was put into every, this whole process.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
Council member, I mean vice mayor, sorry.
Hi, I hear that parts of,
some parts of San Diego County have ADU blueprints,
plan A, plan B, plan C.
We don't have that yet, right?
We do not, but it is something that we're looking into.
Most certainly, I think what's helpful for us
is the data and success from the other jurisdictions
that have implemented that.
Not every case fits into our community, but we're trying to find a balance there.
And then also the data report that we provided to you, that's also helpful for so we can
see where those log jams are and if that type of process would be of assistance to our
community members.
Okay.
And the second thing.
Do you think that you guys?
Can I jump in there real quick?
If a resident brings in an ADU blueprint from another community, we will take it
off.
Oh, okay, awesome, okay.
And then real quick, the number one complaint
I've ever heard from an ADU person or a business
is they get corrections, they do the corrections,
they come back and it's a new set of corrections.
How do you feel like you've tackled that?
Certainly, again, the data is really helpful
for us to understand where those bottlenecks are.
We're continuing to analyze that.
And I think oftentimes it's a matter
of us sitting down with the applicant, they may think that they met the condition, but
sometimes they provide us the information, which then begets the need for more information,
if that makes sense, because we didn't have the information up front that once they do
provide us the information, then that results in further questions. That's why at that second
review cycle, we want to sit down with applicants and actually walk through it so that we
don't have that back and forth.
any other questions or comments council member parent yeah thanks very much for
this presentation I wanted to highlight my appreciation of sharing the many many
channels by which the city makes available information about pending
applications and those sorts of things I think that map is really terrific it's
well-maintained, has a lot of great information on it, and also the diversity of ways that
people can sign up for agenda materials for planning commission, design review board and
all these other things.
These things have been in place in La Mesa for a while now, but I think they're reflective
of the city staff's long-standing efforts to make this kind of information available
to the public. And so I appreciate that. You know, whenever there's a controversial project
that comes forward, whether it's a housing project or a bike lane or anything like that,
people, it's inevitable in any local government, not just LaMesa, people say, why didn't I
hear about this? Right? I was like, well, okay, well, fair enough. Like, you know, we're
not going to knock on everyone's door and sit down with them. But we are going,
I think, really above and beyond even of our sophisticated peer jurisdictions to
make that information available and so I think that's terrific.
I also want to recognize the high production of ADUs
compared to our peer cities.
I've been digging into some of that data myself recently,
and I think that is something we absolutely
should be proud of.
The whole number of ADUs that we're permitting
are not as big as maybe, say, the city of San Diego.
But I'm told it's a larger jurisdiction
than the city of La Mesa, but our rate of entitlement
per capita is I think higher than theirs and they've been getting a lot of attention nationally
for their policy but it turns out maybe ours is better. So I want to just recognize that
from the staff and also for the council who voted to adopt rules that made those things
more easier to achieve for homeowners and property owners. So that's something I think
we can be proud of and look forward to continuing to improve those processes so
and homeowners were able to build those extra units
if that's what they want.
Thank you.
Council Member Hsu.
Mayor, with regards to the ADUs,
I had asked this question at, I guess, the workshop
I had for the ADU handbook.
Is there a way we can do a quick survey
of a small number, maybe a random number,
of the 165 that were permitted to see where they are
and who ended up staying or using those 80 units.
The initial idea from my understanding
is that we wanted to address the housing crisis
as best we can with little in terms of funding,
but also to accommodate homeowners
that wanted to expand some housing availability
in our community.
So I'm kind of curious who's using the ADUs,
how many of them being occupied so that we can have some comparables with other ways of
improving housing. I think it's really commendable that we process many of them and of course
waiving the fees was one of our ways to encourage that to happen. So I'm really glad that we
have that success. As well as the other information online, I did go to the website and looked
at many projects and of course looked at my neighborhood and saw what was happening
happening on my local streets.
So I thought that was a great tool to have.
It's really neat that we have that 204 of our residents.
I wanna give you a quick story,
but maybe not associated with the premise
that all of you are handling it in terms of building.
But recently I went to opening for one of our new
to restaurants, actually it's just a remake of what used to be Sammy's Pizza, but now it's
a different establishment that provides brunches.
And I ended up talking to one of their corporate managers who had to apply for a alcohol permit,
alcohol serving permit.
And to make the long story short, she simply said, we are much better than that large
city next to us.
There, it took them many, many weeks and all kinds of hurdles, and they came to see if
we made some guidance and got the permit and walked out that it was like much, much easier.
And I think that's the kind of reputation we have, and I hope we continue to have.
Thank you.
I have just 57 questions.
I'll take them.
I'm just kidding.
Thank you very much for your report.
Next on the agenda is public comment.
Any hands raised?
No, Mayor.
All right.
We have in one public comment, Brenda Hammond,
would you please come up?
Those are all for 10 to eight, okay.
Good evening.
Hi, so quiet tonight.
Great, our city attorney, I mean not city attorney,
city manager took the words out of my mouth
when the storm yesterday was,
I just saw all these people coming together and helping,
But there's some people that maybe you guys left out and other people have.
The homeless were out there helping people.
They were out there getting people out of the water, helping them push out of puddles.
So I think they should get a little more respect.
So when you're out there on Thursday counting us homeless people,
show some respect for them because maybe you might get some back.
and since I have some time left, good news. I haven't, I and people that look like me,
if I can use that term everybody else does, I haven't been physically assaulted by those
women but verbally it's getting worse and I think it's because the elections
are coming up and I don't appreciate some of the stuff and neither do some other
people that I know being called a white girl. I'm bohemian, German and a little
bit of other European countries. So does that make me a white girl? My friend that we always
go to council meetings together said, oh that makes me a cracker. So just some humor there.
I don't like when people talk about the color of their skin, that they're better, oh people
of color. I mean give me a break, white is a color too so please, when you're out
they're counting those people whether they're white, black, brown, show some
respect for them because they're not all drug addicts and they're not all
alcoholics and they don't all have a mental illness and as far as them out
they're helping people they're not afraid to get their hair wet or their
makeup messed up or their cars messed up they're out there to help people so
please show them some respect. Thank you. And me. Next on the agenda is conflict
exposures. Anyone from council? Item number eight is board and commissions
interviews, interview and application for an unscheduled vacancy on the Arts and
Culture Commission. Ms. Weigelman.
Honorable Mayor and Council, the
interviews that are being conducted this evening is to fill an
unscheduled vacancy on the Arts and Culture Commission. Unfortunately the
applicants were invited to attend the meeting this evening, make a brief
presentation describing their qualifications and interests in serving
our community. Unfortunately both applicants had sent their regrets that
they are not able to attend the meeting due to a prayer commitment but they
have both expressed interest in being appointed and the appointment will be
made at the council meeting on Tuesday February 13th and that concludes my
report for this item.
Thank you.
Item number 8-2,
thank you.
Thank you.
Same thing.
Honorable Mayor and Council, this interview being conducted this evening is to fill an
unscheduled vacancy on the design review board.
The applicant has been invited to attend the meeting to give a brief presentation describing
their qualifications and interests in serving the community.
And the appointment, again, will be made at the February 13th meeting.
I'll now call Allison Marita forward and after their presentation you may ask questions if you wish. Is Allison here?
I appreciate your resolve.
Good evening. Thank you.
My name is Allison Marita. I am an architect and principal at Delaware Architects located in San Diego
and more importantly, I'm a resident here at La Mesa with a few blocks away from Sprouts down the street from Collier Park. I
I used to be heavily involved with
the A.I. American Institute of Architects, San Diego,
American Institute Architects of California Council,
and then also the national, A.I.A. National,
and then kind of took a step back
on some of my community involvement with that,
and just really looking forward to
trying to help the community here in La Mesa.
I moved out here with my husband
when I was pregnant in 2015,
and just been very very happy here. My daughter went to Gray Rabbit, she's at
Lemon Avenue Elementary right now, and it's just amazing to see the different
the growth that's been happening here and the amount of events, you know, the
farmers market down in the village, the village tile signs, and I feel like I
that could help out with the design review committee,
especially as an architect and being on the other side
where we're presenting the design review to certain boards.
So I understand kind of the,
all the work that goes into putting together
those packages for review
and being consistent and fair with comments.
Thank you.
Appreciate your consideration.
I hope you like the, call your park project.
We're so excited.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
Well, thank you for...
Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you.
That concludes the interviews. Thank you, Allison.
Next, number nine, public comments on consent calendar. Are there any hands raised?
No, ma'am.
We have two, and I will. Melissa Weiss, followed by Mickey Monrath. Good evening.
Good evening. Hi, council. How's everybody doing? I am Melissa Weiss.
I am super excited about agenda item 10.5, the resolution approving funds for public art projects.
As a commissioner on the arts and culture commission, it has been a very interesting and very long,
super long experience to bring these first projects to everybody.
The projects that are being brought forth are in response to a community survey that we put out to our neighbors.
One of the main things the community asked for were more murals to beautify La Mesa.
Murals not only add visual interest to the neighborhood, but they also allow for cultural expression,
in, provide jobs to artists, which is often a demographic that is low income. I have been
in that position before as an artist, so speaking from experience. And murals are an important
element that provides safety by discouraging graffiti and dumping, bringing a greater
sense of pride to LaMesa.
council member parent. You mentioned at a previous council meeting, being super impressed
by all the murals in San Francisco, and expressing a desire to see something similar for LaMesa.
And I absolutely feel the same as you do, and I hope that the rest of the council feels
similarly. And so I am here today to enthusiastically encourage you to each approve agenda item
Item 10.5, the resolution approving funds for public art projects.
Thank you.
Next speaker is Mickey Monorath,
the same item.
Yes.
Excuse my nervousness, this is my first time addressing council in person.
Yes, I'm referring to item 10.5, funds for public arts projects.
So, in La Mesa, I'm the owner of a performing arts business, the director of a performing
arts-based non-profit, and I'm also the vice chair of the La Mesa Arts and Culture Commission.
So about two and a half years ago, City Council demonstrated their support for the arts and
culture by passing a resolution to form the Arts and Culture Commission.
So tonight on the Consent Calendar, there's a resolution to fund some public arts projects tonight.
I asked the council to please continue to demonstrate that support and approve the funding for these projects.
It would make six specific commissioners very happy if you did.
So if these projects are funded tonight,
So, I additionally asked the City Council to please go a little further and please again
demonstrate that support by requesting and funding more of these types of arts projects.
Please find a way to carve out regular funding for the arts and culture.
Give it the opportunity to show how it can fully align with a newly adopted city
strategic plan.
I feel it can meet the mission to deliver high quality public services that enhance the quality of life for all.
It can embody all five of the organizational values.
On the surface, the common thought would be that arts and culture just meets two of the city goals.
The high quality of life, livability.
The infrastructure amenities through the enhancement of the parks, trails, and recreational facilities.
However, it can deliver on all five goals through the practice and concept of placemaking.
It can create safe places for the safe community goal.
These spaces, as well as events, can create a reliable source of revenue for financial
sustainability goal.
It can provide the learning and growth opportunities for city staff to embody and demonstrate
the high-performing organization goal.
So, in closing, I would like to thank City Council for the opportunity to address it
tonight, and I again ask City Council to please continue to demonstrate that support, give
the arts and culture the opportunity, give it the fighting chance to show how it can
service the citizens of La Mesa and deliver on all of the missions, values, and goals
of the strategic plan.
Thank you.
What's the name of your business?
Well, it's Visionary Dance The...
I'm sorry, Visionary School for the Performing Arts,
but we just did change our organization name
to Monorath Powell Dance.
Really?
Yes.
And you're at both locations still?
I'm sorry?
Both locations on Lameza Boulevard still?
Yes, still there.
All right, thank you.
So I'm gonna make a motion
to approve the consent calendar
10-1 through 10-6.
second.
Can you go ahead and vocalize your vote? Yes.
So motion carries with all
council members voting yes. Thank you. Item 11 is council committee reports
council member parent.
Sorry. I just want to share that at our San Diego
community power board meeting last week we voted to adopt updated rates for
rate payers and about 95% of Lemacens are rate payers through the San Diego Community
Power. Starting February 1st, people's power rates will be reduced by over 10%, which is
great and good relief for rate payers and households. We'll see what SDGEE does later
in the year, but we have high hopes that we continue to be a strong value prospect
for for customers while also working toward our goals to reach 100% green
energy. Thanks. Council Member Hsu? Nothing to report. Council Member Dillard?
I have nothing to report. Council Member, sorry Vice Mayor Lothian? Nothing.
All right, no one traveled. City Attorney remarks were adjourned until the
first meeting in February.